Ryan Newstrom, owner of Cornbred Barbecue, was the personal tailgate chef when the RV There Yet? Discovery Channel show recorded a segment of their episode in the RV Village at Jack Trice Stadium.
“Cooking and serving delicious food is my favorite thing in the world,” said Newstrom. “I appreciate the opportunity to not only serve food, but to be highlighted on the show. It brought me back to my competition barbecue days.” For the tailgate experience, Newstrom rolled out his orange show pit and many of his award-winning, signature items.
Newstrom’s formal education is in music, education, and urban planning, but he grew up cooking with his dad. “All of the men in my family are cooks,” said Newstrom.
He started competing with his team, Big T’s Q Cru in 2008, where they saw a lot of success early on, earning over 250 awards and 35 grand championships. They have been named four-time Iowa BBQ Team of the Year, three-time Iowa BBQ Reserve Champion, and National Brisket Champion among 6,500 teams.
“What many people don’t know is that these competitions are judged blindly,” said Newstrom, meaning they do not know who prepared the food. “I found myself taking a scientific approach to the competition, spending time on where we sourced the meat and determining the best cooking time down to the minute.” The proof is in the awards.
They have also won the American Royal World Series of Barbecue Open Brisket Champion in 2012 and the American Royal World Series of Barbecue Invitational Ribs Champion in 2013. They were selected among the top 25 teams in the country for the annual King of the Smoker Invitational four times, and they took the title of Winner King of the Smoker in 2014.
After hundreds of awards, Newstrom and his team pivoted to opening a food truck in 2017. “The food truck was a way for us to build our brand and get a taste of our food into people’s mouths, but we were always still searching for the right spot to open an actual restaurant.” In 2018, they found the perfect location in the old train depot building.
“When we saw that space, we knew it was for us,” said Newstrom. They combined two spaces into one and opened the vertical space and added a second floor. “My vision was to repurpose that beautiful historic building.” Cornbred officially opened in 2019 and has been a staple in Downtown Ames ever since.
If you like barbecue, you’ll love Cornbred and their grillosophy: At Cornbred, we have a love affair with all things barbecue. It floats our boat. It butters our bread. It’s what gets us out of bed in the morning and keeps us up late at night. Our commitment is to share our love of barbecue with our customers every day.
Learn more about Cornbred Barbecue on their website:
